Design process
Inspiration
Kutch artisans had inspired me with their skill, patience and hard work.
I found their work to be magnificent and incomparable. The stories behind each piece were much inspiring. There was love and respect in each piece. The stories that inspired me were -Cattle herders wore Ajrakh shawl to the remote gazing locations. As it would
take him the whole day, he could wear his shawl the other way when it gets dirty. That is the benefit they got from double-sided Ajrakh.
Another story behind the double-sided Ajrakh was that when local men used to get ready for their daily course early in the morning, it was difficult for them to find out the right side of the cloth as there was no electricity. So, Ajrakh was made double-sided.
I loved how a Lohari/Dhabla(shawl of Rabari women) was made by joining two pieces of fabric and how embroidery was used to do so. Embroidery played a functional part which is opposite to the general perception of embroidery being a technique for aesthetic enhancement.
“Dhabla” means blanket and is worn regularly by Rabari women as a shawl. It protects them from the harsh environment outside and functions as a blanket. This multi-functionality of Dhabla was admirable.
Taking these stories as my inspiration I came with a theme, techniques and product range on which chose to work.
With some inputs and suggestions from our faculty, I froze ‘Either way’
(reversible or multipurpose) as my theme. I studied techniques which were reversible e..g reversible embroidery stitches, embroidery techniques (Suf, Khambiro etc), ajrakh etc. For the product range, I chose travelling pouches/bags/organisers because I was
inspired by the nomad communities of Kutch. Also, while travelling, people require lesser things to carry so my products can serve multipurpose in terms of aesthetics or functionality.